Heart of Stone
by Nal'dralar
Summary: Aang finally reveals his feelings towards Katara, but she doesn't feel the same way. Crushed, Aang departs the group and vows to himself that never again will he open up his heart...to anyone. Kataang
1. Chapter 1

**Heart of Stone**

**_Disclaimer: __Avatar: The Last Airbender® does not belong to me in any way whatsoever._**

**Summary: Aang finally reveals his feelings towards Katara, but she doesn't feel the same way. Crushed, Aang departs the group and promises to himself that never again will he open up his heart...to anyone.  
**

**Chapter One: Heartbreak**

He was running, running like the wind. Not in joy though, and not in fear. He was not running away from any Fire Nation soldiers, he was running away from his love. He stopped running and sat down, his face dark and unseeing, his eyes red from tears. _Why?_ He thought. _I loved you and I thought you loved me back._ He closed his eyes and began to think back…

**(_Flashback_)**

"Katara…can you come over here for a minute?" Aang blushed and idly began twiddling his fingers.

Katara smiled at him and put down what she had been doing. Aang was standing in a small shady area near a large oak tree. She walked over to him and smiled again.

"What was it you wanted to tell me about, Aang?" Katara kept smiling at her, though she felt a feeling of unease creep into her stomach.

"Katara…I…I…love you" Aang said, looking down towards his feet, his blush deepening.

Katara gasped and put her hand to her mouth, but she didn't say anything. Aang turned his head to look at her.

"W-well?" he asked, though he knew this wasn't the way things should have turned out.

Katara looked down.

"I'm…sorry Aang, but I-I don't feel the same way."

It was as if she had ripped open his chest and torn out his heart, he felt like he couldn't breathe. He turned his head to look at her, crestfallen, his eyes beginning to water.

"I-I kissed Zuko yesterday, we made out and told each other our feelings. I'm sorry Aang" Katara said, reaching out to pat Aang's shoulder. Aang started to back away.

"N-no…this can't be happening!" he cried. He picked up his staff and fled, leaving Katara alone.

**(_End Flashback_)**

He opened his eyes again and sighed, still crying and letting out shuddering sobs.

"Never again will I tell another I love them, never again will I show emotion" he said his voice cold and thundering like steel. He got up and wiped his eyes with his hand, his huge shuddering sobs of sadness starting to fade. He opened his mouth to speak again, his voice harder and colder than before.

"And never again will I show pity, or mercy. Anything or anyone that dares to get in my way will suffer the ultimate consequence; death.

He got up and opened his glider, jumping up into the wind with a face as hard as granite and a heart of stone.

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**Author's Note:** **This is NOT a Zutara fic, though there will be minor Zutara elements in it. I hate Zutara and as such, plan to crush it with the almightiness of Kataang in his fic!**

**Anyway, opening chapter done, once again, sorry for the _extremely_ short chapter, I'll try and make it up to you with chapter 2.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Heart of Stone**

_**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender® does not belong to me in any way whatsoever.**_

**Chapter Two: Captured**

Aang spent the night next to a small stream, just a mile or too upriver from where his ex-companions were camped. He found a medium-sized rock next to a tree and gently lay down, resting his head against the smooth surface of the rock. His face was pale and hardened, all throughout the day he had fought with himself, forcing his emotions back into himself. He had fought long and hard to hold the back his tears, but he could feel his eyes beginning to water.

Aang thought back to the day he had been freed from the iceberg. He remembered opening his eyes and looking into the eyes of the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He remembered all the times they had shared together, the good and the bad. He had taken months to finally realise the undying love he felt for her, he had been prepared to tell her everything today, if it hadn't been for _him_.

_Why._

A single tear ran down the side of his face, and he began to softly cry again, his emotions gradually overwhelming him.

_I loved you._

More tears slid down from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks and onto his chin, eventually falling to the ground. His quiet sobs grew louder and he began to thrash about wildly. He seemed on the verge of insanity. He got up and continued to thrash about, screaming. He started running towards a tree, his hands clenched into fists. Just as he was about to smash his hands into the tree trunk, his feet made contact with a rock. He tripped and fell. He toppled to the ground and hit his head against the base of the tree and then slowly lost consciousness.

_But not anymore._

**0o0o0o0o0**_  
_

Katara heard his screams echo throughout the forest, a look of sadness on her face. It seemed for an eternity that she heard them, until she could not take it any longer. Aang had not returned to their camp that night and she knew exactly why.

She got out of her sleeping bag as quietly as she could, trying hard to not disturb the other sleeping figures. She looked from Toph, then Sokka and Iroh, before finally her eyes lay to rest on the sleeping figure of Zuko. She smiled softly to herself, watching the slow but steady rise and fall of his chest. She loved him. She moved over to him and knelt down, kissing his forehead gently before walking off quietly.

The screaming had come to an abrupt stop and an eerie silence had settled over the forest.

Katara came to a small stream, unknown to her that somewhere up this river, Aang lay unconscious.

She looked up into the moon and the starlit sky and clasped her hand around her mother's betrothal necklace.

Katara began to cry. She didn't know why she cried, or what she cried for, but she could feel as if she had lost someone or something very important to her. It would only be later that she finally realised what.

Katara felt a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't look up to see who it was, knowing who already.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as she did.

"I…I don't know. It might be my mother…or…" Katara trailed off.

"You're thinking of him, aren't you?" he asked her gently, his voice barely above a whisper.

Sighing, Katara nodded, making an effort to wipe away her tears.

"I-w-what if he is isn't okay, what if he-he does something stupid?"

"He'll be alright, I'm sure he can look after himself." Zuko led Katara, his arms still around her shoulder, over to a fallen tree log and gently sat the both of them down.

"You're right. But-but what if he doesn't come back?"

Zuko didn't respond.

**0o0o0o0o0**

They snuck up on him as he lay there unconscious, shoving him carelessly into a metal cage. Then they left, as quietly as they had come, leaving only his glider staff behind.

**0o0o0o0o0**

Katara and Zuko woke early the next morning, picking out some fruit from their supplies and shoving it into their mouths. Then they started rolling up their sleeping bags, placing them onto Appa.

The flying bison had been unusually quiet this night, usually, he would snore so loudly in his sleep that it would create a huge gust of wind, waking everyone up at the same time.

Katara let Zuko pack the rest. She walked over to the log she and Zuko had been earlier that night and washed her face, then flicking the water off with a wave of her index finger. She sat there, shortly joined by Zuko, embracing each other. Katara made the move first, moving her lips over his…

**0o0o0o0o0**

Sokka woke when the sun was finally up high in the sky, near noon. He yawned loudly, looking to see where everyone had gone. He groaned, he had been the last one up again.

"So you're awake at last" Sokka heard Iroh say.

"Um, yeah" Sokka replied. "Is there any meat left?"

Iroh sighed. "No."

Sokka felt his heart drop, but then he saw his sister over near the stream, with Zuko, still passionately making out. He felt his blood boil, he felt like picking up his boomerang and slicing the exiled prince's head off.

Seething, he walked over to the two. "What…are…you…doing?" he hissed.

The pair looked up abruptly, then laughed at him and continued to make out.

**0o0o0o0o0**

It was past noon by the time they finally set off. They had waited for Aang to return, but after several hours and no sign of him, they finally accepted that he wasn't going to come back.

They were all really worried now.

"You must have really upset him, Katara" Sokka said. "What was it about anyway? And no, I don't want 'It was nothing' from you this time, I want the truth, what happened?"

Katara shook her head. "I-I can't tell you".

They climbed onto Appa, who began flying low over the forest. They all kept a close eye out for any sign of the airbender, except for Toph.

"I heard him screaming last night." Katara said.

"That isn't good" Sokka responded. "After we find him, you'll tell me everything, or I'll force it out of you. I may be stupid at times, but even I know that Aang would never abandon us."

After several hours of endless searching with no luck, they landed in a small clearing, much like the one that they had spent the night in. Appa flew down into the clearing, tired and needing rest. He fell asleep promptly, Momo nestled on his head. The others stayed asleep on his saddle, but Katara jumped off, wandering near the lake to fetch some water.

She dipped her hands into the cool water, bringing her hands to her mouth, enjoying the tasteless water roll down her throat.

_I shouldn't have just come out and told him I didn't feel the same way for him like that_, Katara thought. _It's all my fault. Who knows what has happened to him…_

She looked up and her eyes immediately came to rest on a rock. The rock had a small splotch of blood on it. She got up and walked over to it, bending down, eyeing the blood closely. It was fresh.

_No. Please, no_, she thought.

And then, hidden behind the rock, she saw a long shaft of wood poking out from behind the base of a tree. There she saw a larger splotch of blood, not by much, but still larger. She picked up the staff and immediately it came apart to reveal a glider used by the ancient Air Nomads.

She screamed. "Aang!"

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**Author's Note:** **There you have it, the end of chapter two! I'm sorry it was so boring, and that it took me so long to update. If you've taken a look at my profile recently, you might have read that I was planning to re-write chapter one…well, that idea has been scrapped.**

**I'm very busy at the moment; my next chapter might not be for a while, possibly after Christmas even.**

**I have to say, the season finale was…amazing. I especially loved the last part of Crossroads of Destiny, when Aang gets hit by Azula's lightning bolt. Not that I like Aang getting hurt, that is, but more like the way Katara saved him. It almost made me cry the first time. I guess it's safe to say that ZUTARA IS DEAD.**

**By the way, Katara looks way better with her hair down.**

**If you have any questions you need to ask me, feel free to send me a PM. Until next time, please review!**


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